10 wild things about Scotland

By Robin Gauldie, for CNN

Updated 6:45 AM ET, Thu September 19, 2013

10 of the wildest things about Scotland10 photos

"Highland tigers" – Yes, Scotland has its own wild cat -- so-called Highland tigers -- although there are only 100 left in the wild. If you're very lucky you might spot one in Cairngorms National Park.

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10 of the wildest things about Scotland10 photos

Curlew's cry on the moor – Few places in the world -- let alone in Scotland -- feel as wild as Rannoch Moor. Often the only sound is the eerie cry of the curlew, a wading bird.

Clashing stags – The Isle of Islay is one of Scotland's top places to see red deer stags fighting over territory with their antlers. Oh, and you might spot dancing March hares, too.

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Benign beaver hunt – Beavers have been reintroduced into Scotland after 400 years; there's a colony of the buck-toothed creatures in Knapdale Forest.

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Otters around Mull – You can spot shy otters -- as well as minke whale, dolphins and porpoise -- around the Isle of Mull.

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Scotland's stacks – Yes, people do climb up Scotland's shard-like stacks. One of the most challenging is the mean-sounding Old Man of Stoer.

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Abandoned St. Kilda – Crofters eventually gave up on St. Kilda after centuries of very tough living. Now you have the chance to recolonize the island, albeit temporarily.

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Wild stories – The wildest story in a wild country has got be that of Nessie (here someone's carved the creature in snow by the side of its possible loch home). Never mind whether the monster exists; its territory still has plenty of unspoiled spots.

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Story highlights

Scotland has its own wildcat -- although it's become very rare

Few places feel as wild as Rannoch and other windswept moors

Beaver have been reintroduced here -- guides can take you to them

There's a reason most of Scotland's population clusters near the English border.

It's safer there -- OK, give or take certain Glasgow pubs.

The country just gets wilder the further north you go.

From its ghostly peat bog moors, to the minke whales and basking sharks patrolling its islands, the wild geese that flock here and even its own indigenous cat (a wild cat -- in Scotland?), this small country contains some of the most unspoiled territory left in Europe.

Yet few people in heavily urbanized Britain -- or outside it -- know much of these fiercely beautiful places within their country's borders.

Fewer still have explored them.

Below is the nitty-gritty (there's probably some Scottish way of saying that) of getting to them, starting with a certain improbable cat ...

1. "Highland tigers"

There are fewer than 100 purebred wildcats left in Scotland.

Seeing a "highland tiger" in the wild is a rare privilege, but you might glimpse one in the thick heather and fir woodlands of the Cairngorms National Park (access free, 365 days a year).

This pocket wilderness is home to red deer, golden eagle and osprey, as well as wildcats.

Most of the park, whose landscapes include four of Scotland's five highest peaks, can be explored only on foot.

2. The curlew's cry on the moor

Few places feel as wild as windswept Rannoch Moor.

Sh! ... Listen ... Often the only sound on Rannoch Moor is the cry of the curlew.

Only one road crosses this expanse of peat bog, heather moorland, streams and lochans (a small loch).

And then there are the wild stories -- of which one of Scotland's wildest concerns the supposed monstrous inhabitant of Loch Ness.

On an overcast day, it's easy enough to believe unknown life forms lurk in its depths.

And cryptozoology is big business in these parts -- but this vast, dark loch, containing more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, is impressive, Nessie or no.

The unsettled side of the loch, which you can paddle to from Fort Augustus, feels remarkably unspoiled for such a well-known place as Loch Ness -- no wonder whisky smugglers used to love its calm, hidden little bays.